Microsoft Xbox 360

Reports that it costs Microsoft only $11 to manufacture an Xbox 360 wireless controller that sells for $50 put another nail in the coffin of the crazy theories that Microsoft currently makes a massive loss on their console business - software revenues not withstanding.

Peter Moore of Microsoft had a good deal to say at the DICE Summit in the quiet little desert town of Las Vegas. Besides trying to kid us that Windows Vista is a completely new games platform, he was very enthusiastic about Xbox 360. We repeat some of the things he said and then compare them to reality for your amusement.

Xbox-Scene has posted a full write up of work done by people at 360GameSaves on opening up the Xbox 360 hard-drive and memory cards. It is now possible to get saved games from an internet database or to use cheats to modify saved games.

In previous articles we've argued whether poor hardware availability or the weak line-up of launch titles has hurt Microsoft's new Xbox 360 console more. Microsoft have been promising to solve the availability problem for a while now; a recent announcement has finally given us a time-frame.

In a predictable attempt to downplay the significance of Xbox 360, Sony's Corp's CEO, Howard Stringer, made a point of announcing that he wasn't worried about a threat from Microsoft. Read more about the forthcoming battle of the consoles and why Sony can't afford to lose.

First we were told the update to the 360 dashboard wasn't supposed to happen until March. It was released last night. This change in release schedule is quite a turnaround. Is this the full 'mega patch' that was promised for March, or a cut-down version designed to address something urgent?

From the slew of previews it's possible to work out what's happened with DOA4. Not only did this crucial title slip and miss the US launch, but it's still not ready - that doesn't mean they aren't prepared to ship it though...